Cathy Archibald: The anxiety was building up. You feel like you're being sent to the slaughter

Cathy Archibald placed fourth in the points race at the UCI World Championships. Credit: AFP/Oli Scarff

Emotionally drained Cathy Archibald admits she 'struggled with pressure' after losing her omnium medals on the final night of track cycling at the UCI World Championships.

29-year-old Archibald has been in the spotlight for many of these championships since the death of her partner, Rab Wardell, a former Scottish mountain bike champion, a year ago.

The rider from Glasgow was in eighth place. heading into the points decider and on the cusp of bronze, but saw her bronze hope faded after Belgian Lotte Kopecky launched an attack on the last lap of the decider and USA's Jennifer Valente took the gold, 145 points ahead of the Dane. Amalia Diederiksen.

«It's nice to at least finish a race where I feel like I've given it my all,» Archibald told the BBC. “In fact, since May, this anxiety has been growing in me, I felt that you would be driven out to be slaughtered.

“I thought that when I start racing maybe everything will be fine, but the scratch race didn’t go according to plan, the pace was so far from what I wanted, then I made a serious mistake in the elimination race — passive mistake, which is even more frustrating.

“I fell so low after the departure, but then the pressure was gone. I was at the bottom of the pack. I fought the pressure.”

Stephen Park, performance director at British Cycling, paid tribute to local hero Archibald, who won gold in the team pursuit last week, for the tremendous resilience she has shown since returning to the track. “Everyone is incredibly proud of the journey she has gone through,” Park said. “It's just one step as she continues to grow, continues to grieve and hopefully moves towards Paris and LA. She's an outstanding character.»

On the contrary, young Emma Finucane had a happier ending that confirmed that the future of British women's sprinting shined brightly after she won her first world title.

20-year-old Emma Finucane won the gold medal in the women's elite sprint at the World Championships. Photo: PA/Tim Goode

The 20-year-old has established herself as one of the sport's brightest stars on the track with a brilliant sprint performance and another gold to the UK medals in Glasgow.

Welsh racer took part in the competition. from the British team that won silver in the team sprint before crashing out in the quarterfinals of last week's keirin but got lucky a third time as it only took two of three sprint matches to oust Lea Freudrich from Germany.

“Everything happens for a reason, and I think it had to happen for me. It's super special, I can't believe it,» said an enthusiastic Finucane, who admitted she turned the frustration of her keirin misery into fuel for gold.

«I used that as motivation to give my all and show everyone that I can do it. Sprinting for three days is a very long time, so you really need to focus for a long time, but I have definitely adjusted my mindset. I knew I could.”

Elsewhere, Jack Carlin and Will Perrette finished fifth in the keirin and points race, respectively. The UK topped both medal tables with five golds, three silvers and one bronze in the able-bodied category and 30 brilliant medals in paracycling.